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We live inside a society that’s progressively connected. The mobile products we use every single day are becoming a lot more built-into our daily lives, and we’re with them for from shopping to communication to financial management to gaming. As I know I’ve stated sooner or later before, they’re beyond simple communication devices…they’re portable computer systems. Consequently, we’re storing and being able to access increasingly more private information on these products with every day.

Naturally, you do not want this type of device falling in to the wrong hands. While people may sometimes steal a telephone due to its value, crooks who lift mobile phones and pills are frequently after another thing altogether: information. If you’ve any personal financial info on your phone or tablet, and someone steals it…

You perform the math. You will find a couple of steps you’re gonna need to take to be able to safeguard yourself. Ensure that you follow them, lest you are playing the victim.

The easiest method to prevent someone from stealing your system is to remain sharp wherever you might be. Don’t connect with any unsecured wireless systems, watching your device just like a hawk. Don’t place it lower anywhere that somebody would probably have the ability to go, and be sure that you’ve always first got it near by. Individuals who aren’t having to pay attention are a simple target for crooks anybody searching to steal your phone will wait for a precise moment that you simply tune out to be able to help make your move. Don’t provide them with the chance.

In case your system is outfitted using the capacity, consider setting an unlock password. This way, anybody who attempts to connect to the phone is going to be locked out. Make certain you remember passwords, or you’ll find yourself coping with a completely new problem. Although this may not always stop a remarkably tech savvy and determined crook(you will find ways around such passwords), it could switch off a couple of from the folks searching to raise your devices. Plus, you’ll wish to add any layer of protection it is possible to. Whatever that you can do to safeguard yourself, you need to.

Most enterprise mobile products include remote wipe software pre-installed. In case your device continues to be jeopardized in almost any fashion, you are able to log to the nearest computer and hang from the application, that will completely wipe your phone or tablet associated with a your personal data. Exactly what the thieves will have is really a blank slate. While you’ll be out a smartphone or tablet, your data is going to be safe.

Human beings have become increasingly visual as we’ve grown more accustomed to new media. Often, the best way to get one’s attention is with an eye-catching graphic, and the best way to convey information is via an organized, visual format.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve been posting so many infographics lately. I’m a wordy fellow, and I enjoy writing, but most of you would probably rather see a crisp, clear looking graphic that you can browse at your leisure as opposed to a wall of text, right?

It’s not really all that difficult to see why Infographics have gathered so much popularity. They’re fun, they’re interesting, and they’re easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, they’re not exactly simple to put together. It’s a bit tougher to make an infographic than it is to write an article. You’re going to need a bit of design knowledge, some fairly expensive software, and more than a little bit of time on your hands. As a result, not everyone’s really able to put together an infographic.

Thankfully, plenty of free (or cheap) platforms exist as an alternative to the rather intensive design process.

Infogr.am is one of these tools. It’s quite simple to use. All you do is sign up for an account (it’s free) and you’ll have a whole host of reasonably powerful infographic creation tools at your fingertips. Creating an infographic involves selecting from one of several different available templates, all of which have the ability to add videos, text, photos, and even maps. Not bad for a free service, right?

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The development of the tablet PC has caused a revolution in the worlds of commerce and enterprise, a huge shift in how we communicate and connect with one another. If you were to say that the release of the iPad – and the flood of devices that hit the market immediately afterward – has changed the world, you wouldn’t be that far off. If you were to posit that they’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future, well…

I doubt you’ll find many who would disagree with you.

Believe it or not, the iPad – the device that started it all – didn’t actually incorporate a great deal of new hardware, nor was it an entirely new concept. It wasn’t the technology so much as it was Apple’s approach along with Steve Jobs’ brilliant marketing that made the iPad the latest “must-have” device. It was a perfect storm of old ideas cobbled together in a new and innovative fashion. Today’s infographic takes a look at where the Tablet came from.

Titled “The Evolution of the Tablet PC,” it takes the form of a timeline stretching all the way back to 1987 – the year of the first tablet, called Z88, and ends in 2011; the year when the iPad 2 was released. There’s not much else to say here – it’s an interesting look into the past, and by reading the graphic, one can actually piece together a fairly decent idea of where Apple came from with the iPad.

The infographic can be found below, and you can click for a larger version of it.

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Today, I’d like to talk to you about data fragmentation. It’s something I’m sure all of you have dealt with to some degree.

These days, we’re all drowning in a sea of content. I’ve got a two different emails, a Paypal; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google + accounts; and I browse Flickr, Tumblr, and Reddit. My Google Chrome bookmarks are an absolute nightmare. I’m not even going to bother trying to organize them at this point. There’s also a whole host of extensions and games I’ve installed in Chrome, though I trimmed a significant number of those down in an effort to reduce the amount of bloat in my browser. And all that…it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on all day about the various sites I follow, pages I read, accounts I utilize….

I won’t bother, as I’m certain most of you can relate.

Getting all this chaos organized is a rather daunting task. Thankfully, there’s a whole host of applications and extensions designed for the express purpose of extending a helping hand to those poor souls desperately trying to organize their data on a host of disparate websites. Nexos is one such app – and is mercifully available in offline mode, as well.

It incorporates content from whatever sources you choose into an easy-to-navigate landing page. Even better, all this content can be organized while you’re offline – though it won’t sync with Chrome until you log in, obviously.

So, let’s do the math here: you can consolidate all your bookmarks, favorites, and other content into a single app, and choose to organize all this stuff as you see fit. Not bad, right? Currently, Nexon supports most major content sharing sites and social networks, with more being added on a regular basis.

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Speeding tickets suck. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, they can drive your insurance up to a premium. Whether they’re sent to you by mail or handed down by an imperious traffic cop… no one likes to receive one – particularly when it feels like one’s been wrongly accused or singled out.

See, traffic laws are meant to keep one’s driving standards within a reasonable limit. When tickets are handed out for people driving a mere five or six over the speed limit, it can get a little asinine.

Fortunately, there’s an app for that.

While it might not allow you to avoid speeding tickets altogether, it could definitely serve as a considerable boon for anyone trying to avoid getting dinged for not following the posted speed limit (though you should still follow it – safety, and all that).

It’s called Trapster. Once you’ve created an account and installed the app (sorry, it’s iOS only at the moment), you’ll be connected to over 17 million other Trapster users in what’s been billed as the world’s largest online driving community. Your phone will, as you drive, alert you to both speed traps as well as red light and speed cameras.

That’s not all the app does, either. It also keeps track of traffic accidents, traffic jams, and any other relevant roadway hazards which you might encounter during your drive.

The app is completely community-driven, and thrives on user reports. If you see anything you feel could negatively impact another user’s driving experience, you can report it with the app – other users can do the same for you. Reports can be voted on to ensure that nothing too bogus or outdated gets by the radar.

Like I said, it’s not guaranteed to help you avoid speed traps, traffic accidents, or other roadside hazards…but it’ll definitely help. And with it, you’ll be able to spot the most common hiding spots that the cops like to use.

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As most of you have probably heard by now, the New York Time’s piece on data centers wasn’t exactly accurate. And more than a little intellectually dishonest, to boot. In spite of that, it did raise one very, very good point..

There is no such thing as the cloud. There is no such thing as data that exists solely in virtual space. There’s always a physical backbone somewhere, there’s always some sort of infrastructure supporting ‘cloud’ operations.

Given how big cloud computing’s gotten and how vital the Internet has become to everyone, well…

That’s a lot of hardware.

Of course, that hardware needs power, as well – and it draws a considerable amount in order to keep itself running. Data centers in the United States alone are responsible for about 2% of global carbon emissions annually, and they draw enough electricity to power 25,000 houses, to boot. A staggering volume of energy and pollution – perhaps not so dire as the New York Times made it out to be, but still a cause for some concern. Particularly since the mammoth facilities have the potential to scarf down even more power and produce as much as 350 megatons of CO2 by 2020, if left unchecked.

Thankfully, data center operators across the world are aware of this, and have for quite some time been taking steps to address the issue of energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. It’s why green computing has become such a big thing lately.

Our infographic today examines the green computing craze side-by-side with the global impact of the cloud on our environment, energy infrastructure, and society. Power’s the main concern here – it is called “powering the cloud” after all – but it’s still got some decent information on efficient computing, coupled with a few rather nifty stats. You can view the infographic below. As always, click to enlarge.

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Allow me to fresh paint an image for you personally, as well as gents. You have an audio lesson stuck inside your mind. Not really a whole song, though. All you are able remember from the song is really a couple of bars, possibly the chorus. We have all had this happen before, and it is probably the most irritating things on the planet. Before you can really pay attention to the song under consideration, all you are able consider may be the song. It plays again and again at the back of the mind until it reaches temperature pitch and drowns out intelligent thought altogether. Monitoring the song lower and hearing it’s the only method to save your valuable sanity.

The worst part is, unless of course you really know several full lines in the song, you’re completely at a complete loss. Google can’t help much if all you should do is hum a beat.

Surprisingly, there’s an application for your. It’s known as SoundHound. This application is clever. Created for both iOS and Android, it has a comprehensive assortment of music so it hair combs if you submit a question into it. The sheer amount of its library enables it to acknowledge and identify almost any song.

The greatest draw of SoundHound is the opportunity to look for music by singing, whistling, or playing back a short recording in to the microphone of the device. As with every voice recognition software, it’s not even close to perfect. Sometimes the applying has a little of trouble matching an audio lesson to someone’s voice, but apart from that, it really works virtually perfectly. Plus, it’s difficult to say whether it’s an issue with the application, or with someone’s feeling of musical tone.

Obviously, SoundHound is much more than the usual internet search engine. The SoundHound charts display probably the most frequently-looked tunes within the app’s database,as the SoundHound Head lines permit you to pay attention to free tunes and stream the job of recent artists. In addition, there’s a roadmap that’ll display for you personally what individuals are hearing both in your area and around the world.

Not just that, SoundHound will trawl both your library and just what you’ve looked and streamed most often. Out of this data, it provides you with more information in your favorite tunes and artists together with the performers you’ve looked and streamed. Further, new artists and tunes which match the genres you most enjoy is going to be suggested for you with the application’s crisp interface. Through everything, you’ll have the ability to read lyrics in tangible-time as the tunes play.

SoundHound is, as I’ve stated, on both iOS and Android. You are able to download the Apple version here on the iTunes Store, as the Android version are available around the Android Marketplace.

If you are stuck around the title of the song you particularly like, or you’re just tired of your present music and searching for newer and more effective stuff, then SoundHound is the new closest friend. It’s a effective, full-featured music discovery application by having an easy-to-use interface along with a library big enough to help keep you listening for several days on finish.

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Modern mobile phones are rather impressive products, aren’t they? The cheapest-grade android available on the market can outshine the huge most of pre-2000 personal computers. Which includes old-school video games, obviously.

I know the thing is where I’m choosing this: Because of the right applications, a smartphone or tablet might be converted into a complete-featured gaming device, complete with the finest game titles of yesteryear.

Regrettably, if you are searching to experience games spanning greater than a couple of consoles, things could possibly get an impression complicated. Before lengthy, you may well end up juggling eight different applications along with a confusing mishmash of games.

Alternatively, you can simply employ RetroArch. Created for Android phones, Retroarch works as a front-finish for several emulators, and may run everything from Manufacturers to Sega to Ps games.

Unlike most of the Android emulators presently available on the market, it doesn’t need you to root the body to be able to install. It’s really readily available for download around the Google Play Store. You will get it here. After that, just do the installation while you would every other application. Quick, easy, and fully painless, right?

One disclaimer may be worth observing before you begin utilizing it, though: You’ll still need make use of a touch-screen controller to experience all of the games you’ve installed. Given how terrible individuals are usually for gaming, I’d recommend nabbing some kind of peripheral controller (possibly the Razer Edge, once it releases?) to create things simpler on yourself.

Using Retroarch is a reasonably painless process. Whenever you open it up, you will be given a listing of game engines based on the machine. Tap in your engine of preference, after which browse your device until you’ve found a ROM that’s based on the engine. I’d recommend keeping all of your Roms in a single folder to help make the process a little simpler on yourself.

Once you’ve selected the ROM that you would like to experience, you will be released immediately into the overall game, with touch screen controls shown on the edges. An additional button around the right-hands side from the screen (a downward-pointing arrow) brings in the emulator’s in-game menu. Here, you’ll discover the typical save and cargo condition buttons, in addition to rewind, slow motion, and fast-forward instructions. You may also choose numerous alternative overlays, or perhaps disable the overlay altogether.

If you are fed up with handling a twisted, chaotic mess of game, Retroarch is the best application for you personally.

It isn’t just on Android, either: you’ll find Retroarch for that PC only at that website.

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A strong password is one of the most vital tools you’ll ever have in your portfolio where web browsing is concerned. Without one, you might as well just open up all your personal and financial information to the first criminal who happens to saunter along – they’ll gladly take it.

We’ve been over the importance of a strong password (and the process which goes into creating one), so we aren’t going to pay that topic much mind here. Instead, we’re going to shift our focus just a touch: we’re going to talk about password saving.

The problem with the Internet is that it’s rather fragmented. Every single website you visit wants you to create a new account, every single game you play needs you to input user information, every single device you purchase requires login information. Unless you have the same password for every single device – which is not the least bit recommended – keeping track of all those passwords (well, without using a password manager) can be mentally exhausting.

Depending on how many accounts you have, it could end up being downright impossible.

As a result, a lot of people – myself included – resort to using the built-in ability of browsers like Chrome to save our passwords. That way, whenever we visit a website, all we need to do is type the first letter or so of our account name, and boom; we’re logged in. As an added bonus, if there happens to be a keylogger kicking around our hard drive, it can’t nab our password. After all, we didn’t actually type anything in, right?

The question, of course, is whether or not it’s actually safe to do this.

To my knowledge, there doesn’t yet exist a piece of malware which is able to extract saved passwords from one’s browser – so in that regard, at least, you’re alright. The problem doesn’t lie in digital security in this case: it lies in physical security.With all your passwords saved to your hard drive; theft could be absolutely devastating. If someone should happen to come across your PC and lift it, they’ve got all your accounts at their fingertips, to be accessed and modified as they see fit.

Seems a bit disheartening, no? Unfortunately, aside from being extremely cautious, there’s no real way to deal with this, save using a remote wipe application of some sort. After all, to access your accounts, the thieves first have to connect to the Internet…at which point you can wipe your hard drive.

So…in closing, saving your passwords isn’t as unsafe as everyone thinks it is, but it still puts you at considerable risk of having your accounts compromised, should someone make off with your PC.

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Here’s another one for all you gamers out there – a nifty little homebrew utility which will help you figure out how much time you’ve spent playing each of the games in your steam library, which games you’ve actually played, which games you’ve never touched, and which games you spent the most time on.

For those of you who’ve got a bit of an impulse control problem, it could potentially help you keep your habits in check. It’s a little sobering discovering that you’ve only played about 5% of your 1000 game library, after all. Might inspire you to buy fewer games…or at the very least, get on top of playing the titles you do have.

The platform includes a number of different features to help players visualize their gaming habits- including pie charts! For those of you who like competing with your friends, you can also compare game time and libraries with everybody else on your steam friends list.

Those of you who are interested in checking it out can swing by the website here. Don’t worry – no login needed. All you need to do is visit the website, enter in your Steam ID, and you’re good to go.

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